Miami — Because of either an assassination threat or a jailhouse hoax authorities don't know which yet security has been reinforced around Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the president's younger brother, officials said Friday.
"These allegations could, and I emphasize could, turn out to be without merit," James T. Moore, commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, said from Tallahassee, the state capital. "However, we do not have the luxury of anything other than a complete and thorough investigation of these allegations. And we are about the business of doing just that."
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is all smiles at the start of a news conference in Tallahassee, Fla. Bush called the news conference Friday to announce a new director of Elder Affairs and spoke only briefly about the alleged threat made on his life.
Extra guards were posted Friday at the high-rise Capitol building, where beefed-up anti-terrorist measures including metal detectors at the entrances and concrete street barriers to deter car bombs have been in effect since Sept. 11.
The FBI, Secret Service and Florida law enforcement agencies have pooled their forces to determine whether the 48-year-old Republican governor is indeed the target of a genuine assassination plot.
At issue is the credibility of a prison informant. Authorities say the inmate sent a letter to Bush late last month, spelling out the threat and naming four Middle Eastern men who he said were involved. The governor was made aware of the letter, and Moore said that he talked with Bush again Thursday night to update him on developments.
According to the Miami Herald, the unidentified informant who reportedly is behind bars in the Fort Lauderdale area claimed that the men were planning to drive a truck packed with explosives to Tallahassee and then detonate it close enough to the governor to kill him. Information provided by the prisoner led police Thursday to a van, which drew a reaction from bomb-sniffing dogs.
Moore said two people also were taken into custody Thursday in South Florida on immigration charges in connection with the investigation.
The informant's story, however, should not be taken at face value, officials cautioned. He has failed numerous lie-detector tests, and Moore said it was "a giant leap" to assume there was a terrorist conspiracy against Bush.
"Currently, law enforcement officials are checking things out," said Tom Feeney, the Republican speaker of Florida's House of Representatives.
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